A trip to the bookstore
by JustAWriterWannaBe
Summary: Castle invites Beckett on a trip to one of his bookstore visits.


_**Author's Notes:**_  
Thank you for reading my story, I hope you enjoy it.  
By all means, please leave me feedback/reviews on this or any of the other stories I've posted here. This is all a first for me and I'd like to know what's good and what needs improvement.  
This story is a reposting of one I did on another Castle FanFic site.

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_**Story Notes:**  
_ It takes place somewhere in the fifth season timeframe. No particular reference points needed. No spoilers.

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_**Disclaimer:**_  
All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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Handing her coffee to her, "Hey Beckett, I just got a call from my agent, she made a last minute deal and now I've got a book signing and reading at a store in Connecticut tonight, wanna go for a ride? It's a couple of hours up and a couple back with a couple of hours at the bookstore. I figured, that since the limo has a nice moon roof, maybe me 'n you could snuggle and smooch our way up there and back. I'll even pack us a light picnic to-go." Castle smiled a wide wicked grin, doing his best to make his eyes sparkle.

"I dunno. Seems like it'd be a long trip. I was thinking of doing my nails." she said not looking at him all the while, thinking to herself "I hope he can't see me trying to not smile."

"Really?" he says taken aback, he looks dejected with that 'scolded puppy' look on his face.

"There you go again, looking like a lost puppy." she sighed. "You're really that desperate for company eh?"

"Well, I just thought..."

"Fine, I'll do it for you." she said cutting him off with a mischievous smile "But don't think I won't remember this. You'll owe me."

"Right, I'll put it on the ledger I keep in my night-stand."

"What ledger? ... Are you kidding me?" she exclaims, shocked at the idea.

"Yes, I am. You're easy too you know." he said giving her a peck on the cheek.

"I'll have the limo at your door at 4:30 this afternoon, is that okay?"

"4:30, you got it. It's a date. Assuming a body doesn't drop. Now, if it's okay with you can we get to work?"

"Yeah" he said trailing along behind Beckett with a small skip in his step.

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Later that day, we see Castle sitting in the back of a nice white limo talking on his cell phone. "Okay, I'll come over and pick you up now." holding the phone aside, he says "Driver, we need to go to the 12th precinct, side entrance right away." back to his phone "Kate, we are on our way, it should only be a couple of minutes." listening for a moment, he continues "Please don't apologize you're not inconveniencing me at all. We'll be there in a moment, just don't let the captain catch you and give you another case." he pauses and smiles "See you."

The car stops and Castle opens a window and waves **"Beckett! Over here."**

"Sorry for being late, I really do hope this doesn't cause a problem." she apologized as she got in.

"You never cause problems." he said helping her into the limo.

"Thank you. Wow, this is nice."

"Cinderella always rides in a nice carriage doesn't she?" he smiled. "Driver, we're all set, thank you for your patience, let's hit the road."

"You got it Mr Castle, current estimate is we'll be there in about an hour and forty-five minutes. Enjoy the ride."

"Thanks!" he smiled looking at Beckett as the driver closed the privacy window and started out on the trip.

Castle carefully folds her coat and places it in a corner of the limo, reaches over to the side and takes a small glass of wine he's prepared off of the holder and hands it to Beckett "You can now officially relax."

"Thanks, this is nice, I don't think I've ever had a rolling picnic before." she says taking a small sip of the wine.

"Can I interest you in a little caviar?" he smiles handing a cracker to Beckett as he slides in next to her for the long trip.

* * *

"Mr Castle" the intercom crackled "We are pulling into the parking lot now. Whenever you and your party are ready, please let me know."

"Thank you" Castle responds pressing the button on the intercom.

The car stops smoothly and Castle gives Beckett a gentle nudge to wake her up. "Kate, time to wake up, we're here." She stirs in the crook of his arm and smiles as she wakes from her slumber.

"Thanks, I needed that nap." she smiled as she sits up and fixes her hair. "I must look a mess, is there a mirror here?"

"You look beautiful and yes, there's a mirror over here if you really think you need one."

"I'm not sure I can trust your judgment as being unbiased." looking into the mirror "Good grief, I'm glad I didn't listen to you." she says as she starts to fix her hair "Sorry, this will only take a minute."

"No apologies, as it is, we're early but no one cares about a few minutes of delay. Take your time and make sure you're comfortable." he informed her. "As it is, just so you know, I'm not going to introduce you. Not because I am not pleased you're here, I am thrilled to be with you, I just don't want you to be made uncomfortable by people expecting something from you or you thinking that they're expecting something you're not." he continued "The other side of the coin is that if we started showing up together, people will begin to expect me to be bringing Nikki Heat to every book signing I do and that's really unfair to you." He pauses and then says "Unless you want the notoriety of course."

"No, thanks, as it is too many people think that's my image on the covers of the books." she quips. "I'll settle for a bit of anonymity gladly, thanks. It'll give me a chance to look for something good to read while you're working."

"Hmmm..." he smiles at her and she smiles back knowing that she's teasing him.

"Driver, we're ready, thank you." he says pressing the button on the intercom, and the driver gets out and opens their door.

Walking to the back door of the store Castle and Beckett are met by a young woman holding out her hand "Hi Mr Castle, I'm Molly the manager. Thank you for coming tonight. It's a great privilege to meet you."

"Thank you for the invitation, I'm glad we could do it so last minute." he responded. Pointedly avoiding the obvious oversight of manners, he doesn't introduce Kate to the young woman. "Molly, my friend here will be spending the visit with us but she'll be out of the limelight, she just wants to observe."

"That's fine. Please let me know if there's anything you need or want during your visit." Molly says to Kate.

"Shall we get started Mr Castle?"

"Yes please, thank you."

"Follow me please." as Molly turns and leads them through the back door. "Ma'am, if you'd like you can go out that door over there if you wish to avoid the attention." she says to Beckett pointing across the back room to another door "Mr Castle, we'll introduce you directly if that's alright with you."

"Yes, let the show begin!" he winks to Kate as she approaches the other door.

Molly goes through the door and announces "Ladies and Gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the Master of the Macabre, Mr Richard Castle!"

Lots of applause as Castle goes through the door waving to the crowd. While the attention is on him, Kate slinks through the side door to join the crowd of admirers. Smiling to herself thinking back to when she herself stood in line to meet him and get his autograph.

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After his introduction talk, he read from his most recent work, avoiding looking at Beckett, the whole time, knowing full well that even glancing at her would cause him to be more than a little distracted, drawing attention to her. Not to mention ruining the experience for the audience. After his reading and the usual questions and answers, he sat down to do autographs. He made a mental note that he could see Beckett off to the side smiling at the theater she was watching.

He began the autographing process quickly "Hi! Thank you for coming tonight, who do you want me to make it out to?" he said to the first person in the line. Over and over again, he repeated the process, one after another, never once sounding tired or bored with the visitors, smiling and signing each book with his usual flourish. As the line of customers dwindled, he heard two women in the line speaking too loud to not be heard "Did you see that broad?" said one "Yea, talk about pathetic." said her friend. "Did you see the badge? Maybe she thinks she's Nikki Heat." said the first and her friend responded "Naaa... I know Nikki Heat and that bimbo isn't her." laughing the first woman said "**Some **people shouldn't be allowed into these things."

Castle, without missing a beat, made a high sign to Molly the manager to get her attention and bring her over to him. To the customer in front of him he continued "Hi! Thank you for coming tonight, who do you want me to make it out to?"

"My name is Sally, I'm your biggest fan Mr Castle!" said the young girl "Thank you Sally, may I ask you to wait for a moment?" turning to Molly he whispers "Molly, I'm going to talk to two women in the line. When I am done, you are to refund them for their entire purchases tonight, which I will repay you for, and then I will ask you to escort them out of the store."

"Um okay Mr Castle." she said with great apprehension.

Standing, Castle points to the two women in line "Ladies, may I have a moment? Would you please come over here?" The two women, thinking they were being singled out by the great author, strode to the front of the line smiling.

Castle started in a strong and firm voice "Ladies, I heard you two speaking in the line. I have a young daughter and I wouldn't want her to hear or experience the hate and vitriol that you two were spewing. What you two were doing is pure bullying, simple and ignorant and **I will not have it!** I have **zero** tolerance for it. That woman you were attempting to belittle is more woman than either of you will ever be and is someone that shouldn't have to deal with the likes of you." leaning forward and saying it very clearly and authoritatively through gritted teeth "Let me make this abundantly clear, there is **NO ONE** that knows Nikki Heat better than ***I*** do and she's a mere shadow of that woman over there!" he exclaimed pointing to Beckett. Straightening up and now pointing to the manager "The manager, will refund you for your purchases tonight and escort you from the store. Good bye and please don't come back."

With that he sat down and turned to the customer he interrupted "Sally, thank you very much for your patience and I'm sorry for the interruption." he said as he began to autograph her book. With that, the audience erupted into applause at the actions he took. He stood and waved saying "Thank you everyone." Then, looking at the front of the store and seeing the two women skulking out the door escorted by the manager he looked at Beckett and she smiled at him nodding her head and started to walk over to where he was. She knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, now that the haters has left us, let me introduce someone to you. This is one of New York City's finest, Police Detective Katherine Beckett." he said proudly as an audible gasp went up from the crowd. "I was telling her about how nice the folks at these small book stores are and I offered to let her come and see it for herself since, as you already know, Nikki Heat is based on Detective Beckett."

As the applause drowns out her saying "Thank you" to the crowd and begins to surround her, Castle wades over to her side and pulls her behind the tables he was sitting behind. As the applause quiets down, Castle announces "We have Detective Beckett's infinite patience and indulgence to thank for my being able to bring Nikki Heat to life for you. However, because of legal constraints imposed by the city of New York as well as concerns for her safety, we ask that people don't take pictures of her and she can't provide autographs." Everyone immediately said a disappointed "Awww" in unison. "I'm sorry." Beckett says smiling and waving.

"Detective Beckett, if you'd like you can sit here with me." Castle said holding her chair as she sat down and he returned to the line of customers. As he began the autographing process again, Beckett sat next to him and greeted people as they came up, saying a courteous thank you for their complements.

At the end of the night, when the last person got their autograph and left, Castle stood up and thanked Kate for her kindness "I'm sorry to have outed you like that but it seemed like it might be a good idea."

"It was nice but you didn't need to defend me you know."

"Well, I sorta did." he said "You know how defensive I am of Alexis and if that was her they were trying to belittle I'd hope someone would jump on them to protect her. I guess I felt the same protection for you."

As he turned to talk to Molly, Kate smiled a warm smile and resisted the urge to tear up at the lovely compliment he just gave her. She started to head over to the book rack where all of Castle's books were lined up, smiling and thinking of her good fortune.

"Molly, how much do I owe you for those books those women purchased." Castle asked as he reached into his pocket.

"Nothing Mr Castle. I called the owner Mr Fox and told him what happened and he said that he'd take care of the costs, there's no reason you should have to pay for it." she said holding up her hands.

"Thank you Molly. It was a pleasure meeting you and thank you for the invitation for this signing." he held out his hand to shake hers "Did all of your employees get their own autographs and book copies? They had to work during this adventure."

"Actually, Mr Fox told us not to ask you for such things."

"Nonsense! **Everyone, come on over,** Molly, all your employees get a free book on me and you might as well have some fun, got a camera?" with that, he started another small party, signing the employee's books and getting his picture taken with them.

When it was all over, he headed for the door where Kate was waiting for him. "You put on quite a show." she said "That was a long two hours and I'm surprised at how much energy you have for this. I only sat there and I got tired just watching you."

"Well, they paid for it. I owe everything I have to them, there's no reason I can't make them happy." he cheerily replied putting his hand on her back and heading for the limo. "I do enjoy the people and knowing how much pleasure they get from my work."

As they crawled into the limo, to begin the ride back, Kate poured a small glass of wine for Rick, giving it to him, she sat next to him and, the two of them, watching the stars through the roof of the car, relaxed as Rick, leaning back on Kate, fell asleep in her arms.


End file.
